What Jake Bentley wants to fix after South Carolina’s loss to Georgia

South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley lingered a little longer on the field of Williams-Brice Stadium after Saturday’s game.

He wanted to thank fans after a 41-17 loss to Georgia, the fourth in a row in the series. But he also said he was focused on something else.

“Maybe just thinking about what I could have done better, maybe give us a better chance to win,” Bentley said.

Exactly what that is doesn’t fit in a narrow category.

“I think it’s everything,” Bentley said. “You look at a game like this. At the end of the day, find a way to win the game. I’ve got to be more accurate, or just do what it takes to put us in a place to win. Taking care of the ball down there on the goal line is kind of the biggest thing that stands out.”

Bentley even took the blame for a pass that went at the head of tailback Rico Dowdle instead of his chest. Dowdle couldn’t handle it and tipped it up, and it was returned for a touchdown to open the game’s scoring.

Bentley didn’t come away with great numbers. He was 18 of 31 for 146 yards in the first half, and then the offense went three-and-out on the first three series of the third quarter as Georgia pulled away. His final line of 30-of-47 passing for 296 yards included a pair of interceptions and was bolstered by some production with the game out of hand. It also included at least five drops and he didn’t get much from the running game.

It means he has three touchdowns and seven interceptions in his four games against Clemson and Georgia. (He also has no touchdowns and four picks against Florida.)

At times Saturday, he had the offense moving. There were three drives of eight or more plays in the first half, each with some solid throws from him. But there was never enough to keep things going, and a trick play was needed to finish the one that crossed the goal line.

After the game, coach Will Muschamp wanted to take a little time before fully assessing his junior signal caller.

“We had some drops that were unfortunate,” Muschamp said. “We’ll go back and watch the film and make a more accurate explanation of how he played the game.”

Running nowhere

Running the ball had been an issue for South Carolina the past two games against the Bulldogs.

Make that the past three.

The Gamecocks were again anemic in terms of the ground game. Their backs averaged 3.4 yards on 14 carries. They didn’t break a run longer than 11 yards, and that was a quarterback scramble.

Muschamp said his team flat-out got whipped up front, and one member of that front provided a little nuance as to what went wrong.

“We’ve just got to get more downhill,” guard Zack Bailey said. “I think we did a lot of outside stuff. We need to run a little bit more inside. Just move people off the ball.”

Storm prep

South Carolina’s athletic department has plenty of experience with various storms and hurricanes moving games.

Tropical Storm Florence triggered South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to declare a state of emergency Saturday ahead of possible landfall later in the week. USC hasn’t yet started in on contingency plans if the storm affects next Saturday night’s game against Marshall, but the staff is keeping an eye on it.

“We’ve had internal conversation with some administrative staff earlier,” Gamecocks athletic director Ray Tanner said. “It’s still too early to tell exactly the path. We’ll certainly be monitoring it as the week goes on.”

In the past three seasons, storms have caused a pair of Gamecocks football games to be moved.

In 2015, heavy flooding in Columbia made the logistics of hosing a game impossible, so the game was moved to LSU. A year later, Hurricane Matthew caused enough storming in Columbia to move the Georgia game from Saturday to Sunday.

“Unfortunately we have some experience,” Tanner said. “I was talking with Greg McGarity, the Georgia AD, during the game today. And I’m like, ‘You guys are a week early.’ We’ll be dealing with this, Hurricane Florence, next week.

“Hopefully we won’t have anything to deal with, but we’ll certainly be prepared if we do.”

Notes

▪ South Carolina’s captains were KC Crosby, Bryson Allen-Williams, Steven Montac, Jacob August

▪ Game time temperature was a humid 93 degrees

▪ Official attendance was 83,140, the 23rd largest crowd in Williams-Brice Stadium history.

▪ Wide receiver Bryan Edwards finished with seven catches to pass Cory Boyd for 10th on the career receptions list with 119.

This story was originally published September 8, 2018 at 9:23 PM.